Heel construction for shoes



April 26, 1938. O TEODORml 2,115,350

HEEL CONSTRUCTION FOR SHOES Filed June 2, 1936 54 INVENTOR flaw/v0 72-000mm ATTOREY Patented Apr. 26, 1938 g V UNITED STATES HEEL CONSTRUCTION FOR SHOES Osmond Teodorini, New York, N. Y., assignor of thirty-three percent to The Granada Finance Company Limited, Granda, British West Indies Application June 2, 1936, Serial No. 83,009

1 Claim.

This invention relates to shoes, and particularly to the heel construction of shoes; and. the object of the invention is to provide the heel portion of a shoe with a mounting member or adaptor of standardized form and construction in respective sizes to facilitate attachment and detachment of correspondingly standard heels; a further object being to provide a mounting member of the class described having a plurality of couplings spaced along the outer edge portions thereof and exposed through the lower surface of the member to facilitate attachment of the heel therewith, one of said couplings being of contrasting form and construction compared with the other couplings a further'object being to provide the heel portion of a shoe with a plurality of key-hole sockets forming means for detachably coupling a heel with the shoe and further with a transverse bore and socket forming additional means for retaining a heel against displacement from the shoe; a still further object being to provide a mounting or adaptor member for detachable shoe heels comprising a coupling plate imbedded in said member and exposed through the lower or outer surface thereof; and with these and other objects in View, the invention consists in a heel construction for shoes, which is constructed as more fully hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawing forms a part, in which the separate parts of my improvement are designated by suitable reference characters in each of the views, and in which: 7

Fig. 1 is a side and sectional view of a part of a shoe showing one form of construction which I employ.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 2 showing another form of construction, the section being on the line 3-3 of Fig. 4. 7

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Figs. 2 and 3, the section being on the line 55 of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

In Fig. l of the drawing, I have indicated at ID a part of the rear portion of a shoe, the heel portion H of which includes a heel mounting member or adaptor l2 preferably of the peripheral contour of the heel to be employed. At I3, I have shown a heel for detachable mounting with the member 12, said heel forming the subject matter of a companion application filed of equal date herewith.

The member l2 may be composed of any desired material, and as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, this member is composed of a body of molded material in which is embodied a plurality of socket couplings I 4, the inner ends of which are provided with enlarged flange portions 5 for anchoring the couplings to the member l2. The couplings M are provided with keyhole apertures or openings consisting of a large end portion l6 and a smaller end portion IT. The U-shaped boundary Walls of the smaller opening ll are beveled as seen at l8, note Fig. 1, so as to form a seat for the beveled or outwardly flared heads IQ of the coupling pins 20 which are imbedded in the heel [3 in the same spaced relation as the spacing of the socket couplings I4 so as to register therewith in the manner clearly illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing. The heads [9 of the coupling pins 20 project above the upper or inner surface of the heel l3, Whereas the outer exposed surfaces of the socket couplings l4 are flush with the lower or outer surface of the member l2 as will appear from a consideration of Fig. 1 of the drawing. The member 12 may be cemented or otherwise secured to the heel portion II of the shoe, and if desired, nails or. other fastening devices 2| may be employed to secure the member l2 in position. With large Wardly to bring said pins into the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and the interengaging beveled surfaces of the pins and socket coupling serve to draw the heel l3 snugly upon the surface of the member I2.

To retain the heel against forward movement and accidental displacement from the shoe, I employ centrally of the forward curved edge |2a of the member l2, a transverse coupling or' retaining bar 22 which is imbedded in the member l2 and may also be secured to the heel portion H by nails or other devices 23, as indicated in Fig. 2. Rearwardly of the bar 22, the member I2 is provided with a recess 24'and the forward lower surface of the bar 22 is beveled as seen at 25 and exposed through the outer or lower surface of the member 2 to engage a projecting tongue or latch member 25 secured to the. heel l3 and projecting from the upper surface of said heel. The heel l3 or that portion thereof in connection with which the'tong'ue or latch 26 is mounted will be composed of flexible material capable of being forced inwardly by a finger or fingers of the hand in order to move the tongue 26 into position to snap into the recess 24 and to engage the bar 22 in retaining the heel against displacement. To facilitate this flexing movement, the heel 13 or that part thereof immediately back'of the projecting tongue 26' is recessed as indicated.- at 21 to facilitate the flexure' of the heel. In the operation of detaching the heel, the above operation is reversed, and suflicient inward pressure is applied to the heel to move the tongue 26 rearwardlygand said part of the heel is forced outwardly a sufficient degree to disengage the bar 22, and the entire heel I3 is then moved inwardly to bring the pins into alinement with the large openings l6 and the heel is then disengaged by a downward movement. The tongue or latch 25 forms part of a plate which is imbedded. in and. secured to the heel l3 as is indicated at 28. a

In Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawing, I have shown a slight modification which consists simply in providing a single coupling member 29 which is substituted for the independent socket couplings i4 and the coupling bar 22. The member 29 has a series of socket openings 33 similarin all respects to the sockets M for receiving the coupling pins 20 or the heads 19 thereof which form part of the heel [3. At 3|, I have shown a coupling bar portion which forms a part of the front crosshead 29a of the member 29. Aside from these features, the construction and operation of the device shown in Figs. 3 and 4 will be the same as that shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

In Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawing, I have shown another modification wherein a fiat coupling plate 32 of substantially the same general contour as the plate 29 shown in Fig. 3 is employed. This plate may be secured directly tothe heel portion lid of the shoe or to a member 33 which takes the place of the member 12. 33 has a large open socket 34 in which-the coupling 32 is arranged. The lower surface of the coupling'32 is flush with the lowersurface of the member 33, and if desired, a suitable filling may be employed in the large central opening 35 formed in the coupling 32, or this space may be left open as is indicated in Fig. 6 of the drawing to increase the cushion properties of the heel.

5'5; material, With the construction shown in Fi s- This type of construction will adapt itself to heels or mounting members of heels constructed of leather or any other material than molded l and 2, the mounting member or adaptor will be formed of rubber, rubber compositions or other suitable molded materials. It will also be apparent that with small heels such as French heels, a mounting plate alone maybe employed and the peripheral edges of the plate which may be exposed through the heel, may be enameled or V otherwise coated to be consistent with the color- Said member 7 ing of the shoe in connection with which the coupling is mounted.

With the construction shown in Figs. and 6, the coupling 32 has a plurality of socket portions consisting of large openings 36 opening into construction. The walls of the smaller openings 31 are beveled as indicated at 38 in Fig. 6 of the drawing to receive the beveled or flared heads l9 of the coupling pins 20 on the heel l3. At 39',

I have shown the transverse coupling bar which.

is similar to the bar 3| and equivalent tothe bar 22 shown in Figs. '1 and 2 of the drawing. The coupling 32 is recessed as seenat 40 rearwardly of the bar 39 to receive the tongue 26 of the heel I3. Suitable nails or other devices 4| are employed to secure the coupling 32 in position upon the heel portion of the shoe or the member 33.

With the construction shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the coupling 32 is in the form of a substantially D-shaped 'unit, and if desired, a molded body of rubber or other material may be molded with a corresponding D-shaped recess to receive this coupling. On the other hand, if the coupling 32 is secured directly to the heel portion of the shoe, the coupling may be covered with a substantially D-shaped facing and filled with a center plug substantially conforming to the contour of the opening or space 35 in said coupling.

From the foregoing, it will be understood that my improved mounting member or adaptor may be manufactured and sold independently of the heel or in conjunction with the heel for application to a shoe in the repair thereof, or to a shoe manufacturer for installation directly upon the shoe when made, it being understood that the spacing and arrangement of the coupling sockets in said member will be standardized as to sizes and be classified by serialnumbers or other markings so as tofacilitate renewal of the detachable heels from time. to time without the performance of any mechanical operations or shoe repairing labor, it being understood that the "smaller openings 31 forming the same key-hole peripheral contour of the standardized heels and mounting members will be the same in shoes of the respective sizes. s 9

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new'and desire to secure Patent, is 2-- A shoe, the heel portion of which is provided with a mounting member for quick detachable mounting of a heel therewith, said member being by Letters 

